An important goal in playing sports is to win. Often that means proper play execution, good ball control, good grip and feel, and proper form in the sports fundamentals. Gloves and other types of hand covers are permitted in most sports. Many individuals use gloves to enhance, in some way, their competitive edge. Indeed, gloves have become so important that different types of gloves have been created for different sports. Even within a sport, different types of gloves have been invented to, among other things, maximize performance in specific tasks.
In football, for example, there are gloves that offensive and defensive Tackles can wear, that have thick padding around part of the hand. Offensive Receivers can purchase more expensive, all closed-finger, thin gloves to enhance their ability to catch and grip a football.
The use of gloves in football is so widespread that nearly every football player uses them, with the notable exception of football quarterbacks. You rarely see a quarterback wear gloves, even if just to keep warm. Most quarterbacks choose to play football without gloves. This is largely because prior art consists of generic full-fingered, covered palm gloves which are uncomfortable and burdensome on a quarterback's dominant (throwing) hand, particularly on those fingers a quarterback places over the football laces. In addition, these covered gloves prevent a quarterback to have any ‘feel’ of the ball because the gloves cover the fingers as well as all of the palm area thereby desensitizing the entire hand from having much feeling of the football.
Playing the position of quarterback without the help of gloves, however, can also be an inferior choice. The website Wikihow.com, provides a good description of the conventional way to hold and throw a football. “Throwing the football is simple. Put your non-throwing side foot in front of you. Have your Pinkie, Ring and Middle fingers around the laces with your Index [Forefinger] finger on the strap. Put the other hand up on the ball. Put the ball up by your ear. Twist your hips toward the front foot. Throw the ball at the receiver.” Whereas, the fingers over the laces have a solid grip on the ball—primarily due to the football laces on the ball—the two fingers off the laces (forefinger and thumb) are virtually unsupported and therefore have a relatively weaker grip, creating a weak overall grip on the football.
This weak overall grip becomes more pronounced when added stress is placed on the Thumb or Forefinger. When a quarterback, intending to pass the football, for example, suddenly has to scramble, or if the quarterback ‘pumps’ the ball (goes through all the motions and speed of throwing the ball but doesn't actually release the ball), the grip strength of the Thumb and Forefinger can determine whether or not a quarterback fumbles the ball. On a wet football field, during extreme weather conditions (hot or cold), that weaker or looser grip makes for a much more difficult completed pass, less success at throwing a spiral, and generally increased inconsistency and inaccuracy in passing.
This need to feel a ball with one's hand has therefore resulted in quarterbacks having a difficult choice. Although clearly these players would benefit from added grip enhancements on the throwing hand, prior art in the form of covered palm gloves force a quarterback to choose between all feel and no feel. Virtually all quarterbacks have chosen to maintain feel and sacrifice the ability to better grip the football, and therefore not wear gloves. It is no surprise that quarterback fumbles remain a significant problem in football, even at the highest performance levels. In the 2010 season, for example, the individuals with the most fumbles in the NFC and AFC were both quarterbacks, each with 11 fumbles a piece (David Garrard and Michael Vick). Clearly, there remains an insoluble problem in the sport for amateurs and professional quarterbacks.
Under the ‘tips’ section of Wildhow.com, it further describes proper football throwing form: “A proper throw will feel like it's only utilizing the Thumb, Index [Forefinger], and Middle finger. Good release will ‘roll’ off of your Index and Middle finger, to impart more spin; you may snap your wrist through as you follow through to the hip. The other three fingers on your hand stabilize the ball as its being flung. They should not be used to impart spin on the ball. The most important finger to throwing a spiral is the Index finger; it is the finger that holds the most leverage in putting spin on the ball.” There clearly is a need for new art that could offer the ability to increase a quarterbacks grip in key areas, such as the fingers, while being able to provide some ability to still feel the ball with the skin of the throwing hand, such as, for example, leaving select areas of the palm uncovered.
To conclude, new art is required for individuals who play football quarterback, that can offer a more stabilizing overall grip of a football, by conveying grip enhancers to select areas of the hand. This new art will decrease fumbles, and other turnovers, while increasing throw accuracy Because no such art exists, it is no surprise that there were a total of 731 fumbles in the 2010 NFL season, and the highest quarterback completion rating was less than 70 percent (Official Stat Book of the NFL, 2011). Given the fact that fumbles persist at the professional level and therefore certainly at the collegiate and amateur levels, one can see that past attempts to solve these problems have had limited success. Inventing a solution to increase grip and overall ball control for football quarterbacks by creating a structurally superior glove would give quarterbacks many of the benefits that gloves have provided for the other football positions as well.
In the of sport Golf, to be sure, there exists much prior art in the form of gloves for a golfer's weak (non-dominant) hand. In fact most active golf players wear a glove on their weak hand, and go without a glove for their strong hand (if one were to go to any major store to buy golf gloves, they would be sold and packaged in singles—one glove—not sold in pairs). Gloves are prevalent in golf largely because of the important role that hand grip and control play in a golfer's overall performance.
Although there exist many types gloves for a golfer's weak-hand, they all attempt to maximize a golfer's weak-hand grip without regard to a golfer's weak-hand feel, and hand coordination needs. It is no surprise, therefore, that prior art consists of full-fingered (all fingers are covered), closed palm (entire palm is covered) gloves. As a result, a typical golfer must rely on his/her weak-hand to provide all of the enhanced grip support, and on his strong-hand to provide all of the ‘feel’ in his golf swing. There is, therefore, an opportunity to invent a device—and significantly improve prior art—that could offer some ‘feel’ ability for the weak-hand, without significantly diminishing that enhanced grip ability that hand covers offer. This new ability to be able to feel the club with both hands—and therefore throughout the entire grip—would increase overall hand control as well as hand coordination of a golfer's club swing, and therefore greater success in competition.
The golf grip and hand coordination are, of course very important in success play execution. In a popular 1989 video titled “Golf for Juniors” by Billy Casper, a golf instructor states “with over 50 years golf experience the two points that we stress are, one, the grip. I firmly believe that the grip is the most important fundamental because it's the only contact that the body has with the golf club and the golf ball.” Coordination is key and could be enhanced by properly feeling throughout the entire swing.
Providing the ability to feel throughout the club grip, for a more stabile feel, and also allow a golfer to better feel if one part of the club moves while the other side does not. For example, although prior art golf gloves offer grip capabilities on the fingers of the golfer, it also covers the palm area which therefore desensitizes the palm in feeling of any movement of the golf club during the swing. By offering a partially open-palm glove, for example, one could use it to better feel if even a slight movement has taken place of the golf club during a golf swing, which of course would indicate improper golf swing mechanics. More specifically, best grip points are around the thumb and forefingers of both hands. The weakest area of grip is along the edge of the weak hand. The problem is compounded because prior art completely covers the edges and entire palm of the weak hand, minimizing the ability to have much feel in that area, and therefore making it very difficult to notice if there was any movement during the downswing.
In Golf magazine's April 2005 article titled “Fix your grip. The wrong grip can cripple your swing—Here's the cure”, golf instructor Charlie King provides an overview of how to grip a golf club. “Good golf starts with your grip. The proper hold on the club helps you do three crucial things: Hinge your wrists, control the clubface at impact and support the club throughout the swing. Here are three simple grip tips.” As King continues, his third tip is “both hands; solid at the top. An effective grip sets the face square at the top, with the shaft parallel to the target line. You should feel most of the club's weight in your left Thumb and right Forefinger. Now you're ready to turn it loose.” At this point one begins to swing the club, and before impact with the golf ball, one unhinges the wrist as well, which can result in a slight movement of the golf club grip. A simple test can more easily reveal this potential problem. Constant swinging of a golf club at real swing speeds, for example, often results in soreness along the head of the palm, especially around the edge by the pinkie finger. This soreness can often also come from the rubbing or slipping, between the club handle and the weak-hand grip, especially during the unhinging process, suggesting a need to find a way to increase the grip of a golfer's weak hand. This is especially important in the sport of golf because even the smallest of slipping—during the golf swing or upon impact of the golf ball—can create enormous inconsistencies and inaccuracies, critical issues in determining overall performance. Therefore, a significant ‘feel’ problem and opportunity currently exists to create a glove that could offer a golfer the ability to maintain the necessary feel of a golf club, by say offering a glove that is uncovered in select areas of the palm, where the club handle would normally touch the skin of the palm, while leaving other areas of the glove covered and increasing the grip capabilities of the weak-hand. Creating a solution to the problem will provide a significantly better overall grip and overall feel, naturally resulting in a more productive performance in golf by, among other things, decreasing inconsistencies and inaccuracies, critical issues in determining overall performance.
Whereas weak-hand support products seem to be crowded in the sport of Golf for the full golf swing, there is a long existing need for a device that could offer added support for a golfer's putting needs without significantly diminishing its ability to adequately feel the golf club. Inventing a solution to this problem could, among other things, allow for greater golf swing control and consistency, and create an entirely new market because this new device would support a golfer's putting needs.
Virtually no one uses a glove when putting. In fact, most that use a glove when playing golf, all take the glove off as they prepare to putt. Most have to take glove off to putt because the need to have a strong grip is superceded by the critical need to feel the club. To putt then, one must take off one's glove all 18 times, which of course is time consuming, burdensome, distracting to the task at hand. Inventing a glove that could be used throughout the golf course, for general golf swing as well as for putting, could solve this problem and provide several benefits.
Consequently, there are clear indications that an entirely new market exists for a device that could support a golfer's putting needs. In particular there remains an unrecognized problem and an unmet need that would provide multiple benefits, such as better overall grip, more coordination with both hands, as well as some protection from any constant grip slipping, during the practice or play of golf, and in various other sports activities.
In general, opportunities exist to solve several issues in golf. In general golf swing as well as in putting and therefore creating new methods by offering gloves with strategically placed recesses.
In particular there remains an unmet need to offer a glove that could allow a golf user to have increased feel in his weak hand while maintaining the heightened grip capabilities that a glove generally provides. This problem if solved, would provide multiple benefits, such as better overall grip, more coordination with both hands, more feel throughout the golf grip not just from one hand, as well as some protection from any constant grip slipping, during the practice or play of golf, and in various other sports activities.
In the sport of Basketball, there is a significant void when it comes to grip enhancers that one can use to enhance performance, or even simply for aesthetic purposes, and/or that may be used during actual game play. Although there are several generic multisport gloves in the market today, virtually none of the over 100 million basketball players use gloves when playing basketball. A primary reason why basketball players choose not to use gloves is that basketball players often need to be able to simultaneously both grip and feel the basketball. Although many hand tasks require a good grip, no art currently exists that would adequately provide these players with enhanced grip capabilities, or enhanced protection, without having to sacrifice the critical ability of being able to properly feel the basketball as well.
One clear hand task in basketball requiring this grip and feel combination is in shooting the basketball with the intention of making a score or basket. Conventional jump-shot shooting form requires, among other things, that the player hold the basketball largely with the fingertips of both hands, and creating a small opening between the ball and the palm area of the player's strong-hand. This, in turn, requires that a portion of the palm area—hereinafter called a shooter's gap—remain untouched by the basketball. This shooters gap is especially important when properly shooting free throws as well.
There are several figures from those skilled in the art of basketball which show the same areas where the basketball is supposed to touch the hand. For example, the website dicksbasketballcamp.com, highlights the areas as primarily the fingertips, the top of the palm area, and part of the thumb bulge. The book Play Better Basketball also has essentially the same drawing (page 81). The shooter's gap region would represent much of the area that should not be touched by the hand. The boundaries would represent the middle of the palm, generally following the edges of the thumb bulge down to the wrist crease. Additionally, the east portion would represent part, though not more than 50 percent of the Hypothenar Eminance. The top of the shooters gap would begin below the base of the fingers (not the thumb), generally about 0.70-0.90 of an inch below the palmar digital crease (at about the Sup. Trans. Palmar ligament). The widest length of the shooters gap is about 2 inches and the widest width is about 2 inches.
No prior art exists that would increase the gripping abilities of a players fingertips while leaving the rest of the hand—especially the shooters gap—uncovered and thus free to feel if the basketball is touching the palm area (indications that would mean that the player is improperly shooting the basketball). Basketball players need to both grip and feel, especially if she misses a shot and needs to adjust accordingly. This need to feel is so important in shooting a basketball that virtually everyone chooses not to wear gloves and instead deal with a lesser control of the basketball, primarily because everyone on the basketball court has to be prepared to shoot the basketball.
In the book, Play Better Basketball (1982), Jim Pruitt discusses proper shooting form. “Here are some of the basic things to check for proper form: Are you elevating the ball, i.e., shooting from your forehead and not from the chest, is the ball centered so your arms form a triangle, are you shooting the ball off the heels of your hand and not burying it in your palms or using just the fingertips . . . .”
Prior art offers limited assistance in maintaining or learning to maintain this shooter's gap. For example there is the SHOTLOCK product that one places on ones hand, that looks and feels like brass knuckles, and is supposed to keep the basketball from touch the center of the palm by physically keeping the ball elevated and away from the palm center. This has major limitations, of course. First, one cannot really use this product during actual game. Second, the device hinders the development in properly developing muscles in the fingers to support elevated ball when not using the device.
Although offering some advantages using prior art, in the form of more generic multisport gloves, these gloves also create major disadvantages that often forces an individual to choose not to use any grip enhancing devices at all because they are not structurally useful. First, most gloves cover the entire palm area, making it impossible to be practically beneficial in the sport of basketball. Second, the prior art gloves that offer openings on the palm area also having significant disadvantages to the point that they too are not used by the millions of individuals playing the sport. By leaving the palm area open much wider than the shooters gap, for example, significantly diminishes the usefulness and can actually distract a player. Some areas of the palm in fact should touch the ball, such as the portion of the palm, and much of the Thumb bulge. Basketball gloves should therefore leave these areas covered so that one could increase the grip and control capabilities in these areas, not have these areas uncovered. There are also other grip products on the market which keep the palm off the basketball. The main problem is that some of these products also keep the player's shooting pads below his fingers off the ball. Most of these devices therefore teach a player an incorrect gripping procedure.
Limited prior art exists that would provide an athlete with the ability to have enhanced control when dribbling a basketball. Proper dribbling form is to rarely, if ever, look at the ball while dribbling said ball—thus one of the critical reasons why one needs to be able to maintain high ‘feel’ ability. Without any extra grip enhancers however, it is difficult to maintain stable control of the basketball. Minimizing turnovers by offering better ball control while dribbling a basketball would dramatically enhance a player's performance. Those players playing the position of Guard may benefit from added grip support especially because they may need to dribble, at least briefly, with their strong hand as well as with their weak hand. Whereas many players would benefit from control enhancers for their strong (dominant) hand, most guards would certainly also benefit from control enhancers for their weak hand.
According to Wikipedia, ‘dribbling is the act of bouncing the ball continuously with one hand, and is a requirement for a player to take steps with the ball. To dribble, a player pushes the ball down towards the ground with the fingertips rather than patting the ball. This ensures greater control.’ Feel is critical if one is to try and not look at the ball while dribbling, and instead looking down the basketball court for opportunities to score. Individuals who play basketball also have to both ‘feel’ and grip a ball to perform properly, and although they too could significantly enhance performance in controlling a ball, prior art forces them to choose all feel as well, and go without any type of grip enhancers. This insoluble problem therefore also exists in dribbling and controlling a basketball, and these players would substantially benefit from developing a way to maintain ‘feel’ while increasing grip capabilities in select areas of the hand. More specifically, new art is needed that could offer enhancers in certain locations of the hand while leaving key areas of the palm uncovered and therefore being able to maintain necessary feel.
Although athletes playing the position of Forward or Center would also benefit by enhanced dribbling abilities, many of the turnovers caused by Forwards and Centers are often the result of dropping passes thrown to them, or from making a bad pass. Offering art that would enhance the ability to better pass or catch a basketball could therefore also enhance overall performance for anyone playing the sport of basketball. For example, there are some problems associated with wet or oily hands that could be solved with new art in the form of a more structurally specific basketball glove. You often see players wearing cotton wrist bands to keep their hands dry. A typical game—even a professional game—often can have many turnovers. For example, the Los Angeles Lakers, in a 2011 New Year's Eve game against the Denver Nuggets had 20 turnovers alone, so offering art that could increase ball control while shooting, dribbling, passing or even catching a basketball could significantly enhance performance by, among other things, minimizing turnovers. The current solution is to either use these wrist bands or using powder on hands before a game starts.
Clearly, there is significant and substantial need in inventing new art in the sport of basketball. New art could go a long way in offering a player the following benefits, and more:
Better shooting,
Better dribbling
Better catching.
Increased control
Minimizing turnovers
Greater play execution